Letters to the Editor: Sunday, February 16, 2014

Sunday

Feb 16, 2014 at 9:00 AM

AP missing Muslims attacking Christians… Column off on public sector bargaining… Attack on new dairy was inaccurate

AP missing Muslims attacking ChristiansTo the editor,

The Sunday paper, Feb. 9, 2014, carried an article entitled “Violence imperils Muslims” by Krista Larson of the Associated Press. I was dismayed by the article since it appears to be a propaganda piece favoring the Muslims. The Central African Republic (CAR) is currently engaged in a civil war, which began in March of 2013: the non-Muslim citizens are also imperiled by the violence.

The onset of the war was the overthrow of the non-Muslim government of CAR followed by persecutions of the Christian majority by the Muslim rebels. This continued until December 2013, when more than 1,000 Christians were massacred in two days in the capitol city. The Christian militia is fighting back to regain control of their country.

As in all wars, atrocities occur. However, the Islamic practice, at least historically, has been to conquer and then enforce conversion to Islam by the sword. Captured lands become fully under Islamic law and any non-Muslims either die or are made to pay an exorbitant tax to remain. Those who fail to convert are likely to be harassed or killed by their neighbors or government.

The website religionofpeace.com lists over 4,900 deaths of Christians by Muslims in 46 countries since 9-11. The vast majority of these are in Africa. The methods listed include gunshot, bombing, hacking, beating and burning alive as the most frequent.

The use of terror is a device to demoralize and suppress the existing government and population, making the way for an ultimate success of the Islamic state. They also use immigration to become a large minority block which begins to demand their rights rather than embrace the culture to which they have moved. Eventually, through infiltration of the political process, they begin to change the rules in favor of their religion.

An examination of the advance of Islam from the Mediterranean Sea south reveals that these methods have been very successful. At the rate the non-Muslim nations are falling under Muslim control, it will not be many decades until the entire continent of Africa is under the control of Islam.

The article by Ms. Larson seems to empathize with the rebels rather than the locally accepted government. I would hope the Telegram would print the both sides of the story, not just the propaganda that is issued regularly by the Associated Press. That may take considerable research on your part, but it would provide the means of making a rational decision by your readers.John JenkinsClayton

Column off on public sector bargainingTo the editor,

As a former student of Dr. deLespinasse, I greatly respect his opinion on many matters. However, I strongly disagree with his arguments expressed in his Feb. 9 column (“Oregon strike threat a time to end public sector collective bargaining”).

He portrays public sector unions as only concerned with bargaining contracts that greatly benefit its members without consideration for the costs of the contracts to the communities employing them. In this scenario officials are intimidated by unions who threaten to strike if their demands are not meant and cave in to their demands out of fear.

The reality is somewhat different. In recent years public sector unions have given up more than any increases they have received; in Michigan, state workers for that time lost their copays, their insurance has increased immensely and wage increases have not kept up with inflation. Teachers and other public employees have followed a similar pattern.

Although unionized public sector workers are concerned with good wages and benefits to sustain themselves and their families, they are not indifferent to how labor agreements affect their communities; they live in these communities, they raise families in these communities, they pay taxes to support these communities. In short, they are greatly committed to helping their communities thrive and maintain good order.

The idea that unions are intimidating local entities to make bad deals is laughable. With unions in Michigan forbidden to strike by state laws the Michigan Legislature has forced unions to accept items in their contracts that greatly altered pension rights and when that has not changed things fast enough, it has sought to alter existing agreements by legislative fiat.

The use of unions to negotiate wage and benefit packages is much more orderly than having each individual negotiate an agreement individually and much more fair than workers having to accept compensation for their work imposed by others unilaterally.

Dr. deLespinasse argues that public sector workers are protected by civil service rules and can protect their interests by the fact that individuals in unions form a major voting block. Following the same logic, corporations and other business should be forbidden to lobby and contribute campaign money. After all, shareholders get to vote as individuals and businesses are protected by laws. Neither laws and regulations nor civil service rules are made in a vacuum. They are all made in the chaotic realm of politics. To give one set of interests the ability to organize and advocate their position without giving competing interests the same rights is contrary to the ideals of a democratic republic.Jeff DrefkeAdrian

Attack on new dairy was inaccurateTo the editor,

The recent letter to the editor by Mr. John Klein is a great example of an uninformed person pretending to have expertise in order to promote his own agenda. (“Milk Source economic claims not adding up,” Feb. 12)

I am frankly disappointed by Mr. Klein and his recent letter to the editor about the company that is making substantial investment in our region. Mr. Klein, who did not attend the meeting of which he wrote about or take part in the newspaper interview with Jim Ostorm, partner in Milk Source, wants to come off as an expert on agricultural economics, based on his naive interpretation. At the meeting with the Lenawee County Board of Commissioners, Milk Source’s Ostrom presented a slide that showed the calculations of the group “Dairy Doing More” that said the economic impact of a single dairy cow each year is $21,000. He used the figure 7,000 cows and showed the annual, reoccurring economic impact $147 million on that number of cows. It’s simple mathematics.

In his interview with the Hillsdale newspaper, Mr. Ostorm answered a question from a reporter about the initial, ONE TIME, UP FRONT investment Milk Source would make based on purchasing, improving and populating the three dairies in Michigan. His answer was $90 million— $10.4 million of that investment is for manure management upgrades to the three facilities.

Well-managed dairy farms are a win/win for this region. They provide economic growth and a sustainable organic form of fertilizer (manure) for our area’s outstanding crop farmers. By the way, that fertilizer will replace the need for chemical fertilizer shipped in from around the continent.

True, the environmental and economic history of these three farms is poor. But, frankly, so is the hollow rhetoric of Mr. Klein. Our community not only deserves to have the kind of dairy management that Milk Source brings to the table, it also deserves fair discourse from people like Mr. Klein!

Respectfully,Jim DriskillLenawee County Commissioner, District Three

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